Time, time, time, see what's become of me While I looked around For my possibilities I was so hard to please But look around, leaves are brown And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery Weaving time in a tapestry Won't you stop and remember me At any convenient time Funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts Of unpublished rhyme Drinking my vodka and lime

Thanks David. Great years.And thanks too, for pointing, as you leave, to the beedin' great hippo in the room. To be a little fair on Labour, it's crept up, and not just on NZ. Seems to be an unintended consquence (and not the only one- Brash's tenure in the 90s as governor went the other way, and desperately squashed growth) of running an economy via the single mechanism of interest rates. It's arguable that the (insanely low) US interest rates from 2001 have had even more effect on our economy (pushing our dollar up, allowing the banks to borrow very cheaply themselves, and fuelling worldwide 'growth' based on consumption and debt) than our own. But it's still a shocker. Mechanisms intended to rebalance national economies have rebalanced the world. :)

Having been looking fairly intently at property prices in Dunedin, I'd tend to say that while they are a couple of optimists offering at 18% over valuation, the mode offering price is about 5% under valuation, with an overall offering mean of right at the valuation (I can haz spreadsheet). I'd be guessing the mean settling price is lower, but that's not information I have access to.My gut feeling is that anyone who bought in the past five years, and is going to be selling in the next 15 or so, is likely to be sharing the pain of future generations as the situation equalizes a little.

Thanks David - I'm going to miss your work on PA. Your memories and anecdotes of Wellington in the 1970s and 80s were truly delightful.I hope that your posts are going to remain here or otherwise be archived as I would hate to see them disappear (anyone in PA admin care to comment?).